784

They're called leaves for a reason. (mander.xyz)

submitted 3 days ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

61 comments fedilink hide all child comments

top 50 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I deal with 3 massive city-owned (and admittedly beautiful) chinquapin oaks and two privately owned red maples on a 1/3 acre lot. If the leaves don't get removed then everything dies as a result of the acidity and thick leaf cover that also wont fully decay before the next autumn. There is no room for a compost pile of that size considering that the leaves couldnt make up more than half of it. I'm not a fan of grass lawns but the city and the HOA have to give the 'okay' before a lawn change can be made.

[-] philipp_@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 day ago

Same situation here. We need to remove at least part of the oak leaves. They take years to decompose on their own and they just smother ensuring else that wants to grow there. We try to leave a few piles until spring but if we didn't manage the situation, the only plants thriving in the garden would be oaks.

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago

I really fucked up my lawn by putting red clover down in addition to white. Red clover is perineal and grows tall and falls flat on its side. It decays into this horrible straw like shit. I hate it. Horrible horrible decision.

Because it's sort of fucked for a few years I guess, I've been a lot more hands off with leaves. Because hey, even if it kills off some of the stuff there then that's fine by me. I think I only mowed once this year. I only blow leaves off the driveway and onto the yard.

This summer I'll see the fruits of my labor. I'm really curious to see if there are substantially more fireflies.

[-] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 67 points 2 days ago

Or realize that there is still tons of land that isn't maintained and is actually a better habitat for bees anyway. Even in your own neighborhood ther is plenty of places that don't get tended to. This is really just a diversion to redirect people from all the things the ag industry does that harm the bees on a scale us individuals, even collectively can't hold a candle to. Remember when they tried to convince us that leaving the water running while we brush our teeth was a major usage of fresh water. But again, compared to the ag industry, all household water use is a drop in the bucket.

[-] Resonosity@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

It's been a while since I've seen the data, but isn't the American lawn considered a major biome now? At least compared to wildlands.

Between lawns and monocropping in the US, yes we need to fight back against those activities and favor rewilding.

For those reading, start by introducing native plants to your parcel. Let nature do it's thing. Then, consider going vegan since animals need multiple times the amount of land and water to grow: resources to grow the plants, then resources to grow the animals. Then, consider donating to organizations like The Xerces Society, the Wildlife Conservation Network, or MarAlliance. Better yet, find something local to you and join up!

[-] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

You either missed the point, or you have fallen for the propaganda. Industry is a much higher % of the problem than your lawn. But they want to distract you by making you think you should do something with your yard to fix things. When the majority fail to do anything, they will feel like, well I didn't do my part, so I can't demand industry do anything. This allows them to keep destroying the environment. It's a great tactic, worked well with plastic for a very long time. Your just helping them. Instead vote for people who care about us and the planet more than corporate profits. Regulate the industries and support lab grown meats.

[-] UnfairUtan@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago

Sure but.. It's still a really good advice and I'm glad someone posted it. I rarely rake away leaves for reasons like this, and this gives me one extra reason to not do so.

That doesn't mean you're wrong, but we can all be right : fight the important battles for large scale effects while enjoying the small scale effects of individual actions.

[-] Quexotic@infosec.pub 12 points 1 day ago

I think that they're just railing against the smoke show that would have us believe that our individual actions are more to blame than industry as a whole. You can recycle, you can drive a electric car, you can even generate your electricity and store it locally in a battery and not even use the grid but even if we all did that without change to heavy industry we are still screwed.

One small example of this is how big tobacco and big oil have used exactly the same tactics to distract us from what's really going on and protect their profits regardless of the harm to us as a species.

Would you like to know more? https://www.eenews.net/articles/big-tobacco-had-to-pay-206b-is-big-oil-next/

[-] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

Yeah, it totaly woshed right over them. They are playing games with human emotions to protect and increase profits. These kind of things were the early version of the algorithms that are designed to keep you glued to content so you see more ads.

[-] fossilesque@mander.xyz 12 points 2 days ago

For insects, pristine lawns are a huge problem. This isn't quite comparable.

[-] normalexit@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

How do I know when the queens are out?

[-] pirating@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago

Early spring would be the easiest since no other "types" of bumblebee would be flying.

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago

If you see bumblebees then you know they're waking up.

Depending on where you live you may need to be more perceptive. In the southeast US what most people think are bumblebees are actually carpenter bees.

[-] FoD@startrek.website 3 points 1 day ago

Oh, you'll know.

[-] philipp_@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 23 hours ago

Stupid sexy bumblebee butts.

[-] Lennnny@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago

As a Brit we were always taught to gently disturb leaf piles before jumping in them or throwing them into the fire, just in case hedgehogs were in there. The habit has stuck, although I now just rake our leaves up onto the mulched beds and leave them. The chickens will then pull them apart and consume any living thing unfortunate enough to live there.

[-] TheFogan@programming.dev 113 points 3 days ago

Too bad HOAs are far more concerned with making sure everything looks plain and perfect to the 70 year old humans walking on the street rather than giving any craps about wildlife.

[-] Hawke@lemmy.world 40 points 3 days ago

You think anybody is walking on the street in the US?

[-] deadcream@sopuli.xyz 29 points 2 days ago

I'm not American but my understanding is that many of those "suburban" residential blocks have sidewalks and you can walk around withing the confinement of your block. However blocks are isolated from each other and you need a car to go somewhere else.

[-] oxideseven@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

There are places in the US, that when you buy a house or property, you are given a choice. You can build a sidewalk for it yourself, or you can pay the city/county for a sidewalk.

The thing is, if you pay the city/county for the sidewalk, they stipulate that they can build that sidewalk where ever they want. This does not have to include in front of, or anywhere near, your house

The US is a very strange place.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] nBodyProblem@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Depends where you live. I am in Denver and only use the car a few times a week, mostly during ski season.

The rest of the time I walk.

[-] thejml@lemm.ee 9 points 2 days ago

Absolutely. There’s a lot in my neighborhood… And it’s annoying when there’s a perfectly good sidewalk right there.

load more comments (6 replies)

[-] Tower@lemm.ee 17 points 2 days ago

In a previous house I rented, the HOA ladies would drive around the neighborhood roughly 3 times a week. There were less than 200 homes in the whole subdivision. Even if you walked slowly, it would only take an hour to walk the whole thing, but instead they drove.

[-] zea_64 16 points 2 days ago

Don't worry, they're also hostile to humans under the age of 70

[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 96 points 2 days ago

I've decided to leave the leaves on my yard and I swear my neighbors are mowing and leaf blowing twice as much just to spite me.

IDGAF. I'd rather have fireflies and bumblebees than human neighbors

[-] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 24 points 2 days ago

And then they complain that their fruit garden isn't working.

[-] masterofn001@lemmy.ca 20 points 2 days ago

Fireflies were spectacular this year.

In the front yard I let the wind take whatever leaves it takes. In the back I rake a path to the gates. Those leaves get put in a large open bin along my fence which makes nice soil in a year of so. Everything else is as nature intended.

[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 24 points 2 days ago

I’m hoping I can stem the collapse. I saw three fireflies this past summer. Which is a 3x improvement over the summer before that.

But coming from a place where I could walk through the woods on a dark night just by the light of fireflies it hurts my soul to be somewhere so sterile.

load more comments (1 replies)

[-] Toes@ani.social 46 points 2 days ago

I'm pretty sure if I didn't do any yard work by May I'd have the city repossessing my home.

[-] SupraMario@lemmy.world 33 points 2 days ago

Start a movement to stop the city from forcing people to cut their yards. It creates smog, kills the insects we need for food, damages the native plants, wastes money, and looks ugly. Natural yards are awesome.

load more comments (2 replies)

[-] lseif@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 day ago

absolutely insane law there.

[-] stringere@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 day ago

You could try a no-mow lawnternative: https://www.thespruce.com/lawn-alternatives-8657762

[-] pseudo@jlai.lu 3 points 1 day ago

!nolawns@slrpnk.net vibes.

[-] IDrawPoorly@lemm.ee 3 points 1 day ago

wuht

[-] protist@mander.xyz 29 points 2 days ago

I don't view this as a "pick up the leaves or not" false choice. I leave the leaves in some areas and mow over/pick them up in others. They're literally free mulch and compost

[-] OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 days ago

If you leave them all in place they all turn into free mulch and compost anyway. And you avoid using the fossil fuels to power the mower you don't need in the first place.

[-] protist@mander.xyz 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I have a battery powered mower and utility has done a pretty good job of incorporating renewables into their mix

I also have some small spots where I want grass

load more comments (3 replies)

[-] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 10 points 2 days ago

Brings nutrients into your soil so you have a healthier lawn

[-] tacosplease@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago

That has not been my experience. The leaves wreck the ph of the soil and block light from letting grass grow.

[-] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 days ago

Not much grass growing when it’s -20 out but you might have too many leaves so they don’t decompose fast enough during your winter

[-] tacosplease@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Yeah that's definitely the issue here. There's still a layer of wet leaves by the time the grass wants to start growing in the spring.

[-] stringere@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago

Let those leaves kill the grass and replace it with moss, clover, walkable thyme, native grasses, or any number of more interesting ground covers. I'm working towards a no-mow lawn. It's fun finding creative ways to thwart a pesky city ordinance: "A minimum of fifty percent (50%) of all yard areas shall be comprised of turf grass".

[-] tacosplease@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

The layer of leaves kills that stuff too, right?

[-] stringere@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

Probably. With a clover lawn you'll probably need to reseed annually anyway. $4 per 1lb bag covers ~10,000 sq ft so not really a bank buster there, just a little work in the fall and spring.

[-] noxy@yiffit.net 12 points 2 days ago

I'll (electrically) blow leaves off of walkways, but the vast majority of them stay put. Fuck a fucking lawn.

[-] JoYo@lemmy.ml 18 points 2 days ago

until it snows, then it becomes a slip-n-slide for all.

[-] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

our yard and sidewalks / pavement becomes slime slick if they're left around. I doubt there are many bees in my leaf piles, it's been raining for a month straight.

[-] dumples@midwest.social 17 points 2 days ago

Just remember that month suggestions online are for certain geographic areas. You might need to move them earlier or later. (The best rules I have seen is when nights are above 50 F in North America)